In this day and age of social media, there's fake news — and then there's other fake news.

After White Sox outfielder Ryan LaMarre belted a 387-foot homer in his first at-bat Tuesday night at Comerica Park, local, national and Chicago media outlets reported that an uncle had caught the ball in the stands.

The headline in the Chicago Tribune screamed: "You couldn't dream it up."

The 29-year-old LaMarre, who grew up a Tigers fan, was born in Royal Oak, graduated from Jackson Lumen Christi High and played at the University of Michigan. Online newspaper accounts reported that LaMarre's wife Whitney, his parents and grandparents, along with other relatives and friends, were in the stands.

Not to be confused with Babe Ruth calling his shot or Roy Hobbs knocking the cover off the ball in "The Natural," but it didn't quite happen that way.

The ball was actually snagged by Livonia teacher and coach Dave Bjorklund, who was at the game with his two sons: Tyler, 9, and Ryan, 7.

Bjorklund, the Franklin High girls cross country coach, was part of what has become an annual outing with the boys cross country team (coached by Pat Koelzer) at Comerica Park.

The Franklin runners were grouped in Section 150, along the fifth and sixth rows behind the White Sox bullpen, just to the right of all the retired Tigers numbers and statues.

LaMarre's uncle and some of his relatives were reportedly sitting a couple of sections over.

"That ball just happened to bounce off that (bullpen) roof, it ricocheted and I grabbed it off, like, the second or third bounce," Bjorklund said, "and what you can see in the video it's totally me."

This is not the game ball for Ryan LaMarre's first Major League homer, but it was the next best thing given to Franklin teacher and coach Dave Bjorklund later in the game courtesy of the White Sox bullpen.(Photo: SUBMITTED PHOTO)

Bjorklund suddenly found himself the most popular fan in his section.

"So, like, within a minute of me getting that — after some kid tried to trade me a ball — I said, 'No, dude, I've never caught one in my life at Comerica Park,'" said Bjorklund, a Farmington Harrison grad. "So the next thing I know, this guy is heading over to me and he said, 'Hey, can I get that ball?' And I'm, like, 'No.' He said, 'That's my nephew that hit that.' And I'm, like, 'OK, I'm not really buying that one.' He said, 'He's Ryan LaMarre, he's from Royal Oak and that's his first major league home run.' I was, like, 'Who would come up with that that quickly?'"

After some deliberation, Bjorklund believed the story began to pan out and a brief negotiation began with LaMarre's uncle.

"I'm, like, 'I don't know,'" Bjorklund said. "And he said, 'Dude, I'll give you some money for it.' I said, 'I really don't want your money, whatever.' I said, 'OK, you can have it.' He gives me, like, 40 bucks, which I tried to give back to him. But he doesn't want that and I give him the ball. The story sounds legit enough. Then I started to Googling the guy (LaMarre) on my phone and that all kind of checks out."

Following the game, won by the White Sox, 6-3, the legend of LaMarre's first big league homer continued to take a life of its own.

“You couldn’t draw it up any better, at least for me, personally,” LaMarre told The Tribune. “The fact it put us on top and held that way was even more special."

The Franklin High girls and boys cross country teams were in attendance Aug. 14 at Comerica Park.(Photo: SUBMITTED PHOTO)

LaMarre, who has appeared now in 82 major league games with five different teams, is hitting .273 in 22 plate appearances with the White Sox.

“I don’t think anyone in the dugout knew it was my first homer, so when (pitching coach Don Cooper) found out about it, he called the bullpen to get that ball," LaMarre told the Tribune. "It was my uncle, he already had it. He was sitting up there. I don’t know if he caught it on the fly or on the bounce, but he wouldn’t give it back. He was bringing it over to my parents.”

Well, it didn't exactly happen that way.

"After that guy has the ball, the (White Sox) bullpen was yelling up to us," Bjorklund said. "So (the uncle) talks to the bullpen and that's why they all thought the uncle caught the ball. A couple minutes after that, a couple of other family members came down and we said, 'Some uncle came and grabbed it.'"

Meanwhile, the Franklin coach did earn a small consolation prize.

"In about the sixth inning, (the uncle) came back over and gave me a different ball that LaMarre had thrown into the stands, which I gave to my son Ryan," Bjorklund said. "Someone else said, 'Dude, you should have gotten a bat.' I didn't know who it was, it wasn't some superstar or something. People said, 'You should have held out for an autograph.' I said, 'I guess, I don't know.' It all kind of happened so fast, too. (The uncle) was so worried about getting that. Usually you would think the organization would send somebody up to talk to you or something, but I think he had a lot of family at that game. And some other people came looking for it, too. I just said, 'Dude, if that's really true, then I want you to have the ball.'"

Bjorklund posted afterward what had occurred that night on social media.

"On Facebook, somebody said, 'I didn't know you were his uncle,'" Bjorklund said. "Now this thing is blowing out of control."

Not only did it turn out to be a memorable night for LaMarre, but also for Bjorklund.

"What's funny is that I've been to however many games and I've never come close to getting a ball, definitely not close enough where I ever had a chance of getting one," Bjorklund said. "I've had some a few rows behind me and bounce and never even been in the conversation about catching one."

Meanwhile, the Fox Sports Detroit cameras told the real story during the postgame highlights.

"If you look at the video of him hitting the home run, you can see ricochet out there and see me just as I'm holding it up in the air by a Tigers fan and the video cuts away," Bjorklund said. "I'm definitely glad he got it, being his first home run ... that's pretty cool."

Contact Brad Emons at bemons@hometownlife.com. Follow him on Twitter: @BradEmons1.